Bimal Jalan, ex-IAF chief NAK Browne receive notices over Delhi SIR discrepancies

New Delhi: Former RBI governor Bimal Jalan and ex-IAF chief NAK Browne fare among prominent voters who have been issued notices over "discrepancies" in their details furnished during the ongoing SIR of voters' list in Delhi, officials said on Monday.

The notices are part of the exercise covering more than 97 lakh voters in the draft electoral rolls. As many as 33.13 lakh electors have been identified for notices over discrepancies in their enumeration forms, with a large number of cases involving voters whose details could not be matched with the electoral roll prepared during the previous SIR in 2002.

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Browne, who served as Chief of the Air Staff from July 2011 to December 2013, was issued a notice with the reason cited as "unmapped with last SIR", according to the list of voters uploaded by the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office.

Jalan, who served as the 20th governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was also issued a notice under the "unmapped with last SIR" category, the list showed.

The list of voters issued notices has been uploaded on the Delhi CEO's website and includes several prominent names from politics, the judiciary, bureaucracy, academia and public life.

Among those figuring in the list are senior Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, former IRS officer Udit Raj and former Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Pramod Chandra Mody, officials said.

Delhi High Court Judge Prateek Jalan, and Tejaswini Bhushan Gavai and Kalpana Das, wives of former Chief Justices of India BR Gavai and DY Chandrachud, respectively, have also been issued notices over discrepancies in their electoral details, according to the list.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, historian Romila Thapar, Delhi Archbishop Anil Couto and senior CPI leader Annie Raja are among other prominent voters whose names figure in the notices, officials said.

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A large number of the prominent voters issued notices are registered in the New Delhi Assembly constituency, officials said.

The CEO's office has clarified that the issuance of a notice does not mean that a voter's name will be deleted from the electoral roll.

The voters concerned have been given an opportunity to respond and furnish documents for verification. The electoral authorities will examine the facts and documents submitted before deciding on the inclusion of entries in the final electoral roll.

The development comes a day after several other prominent Delhi voters, including former deputy prime minister LK Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar and Election Commissioner S S Sandhu, were reported to have figured among those issued SIR notices.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta's entry, which had also been flagged during the SIR process, was later validated following verification of the facts and documents furnished by her, with her name cleared for inclusion in the final electoral roll, according to her office and election officials.

The claims and objections process is underway, with voters receiving notices required to submit their replies and supporting documents to the electoral registration officers concerned till September 30. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on November 4.